Energy Conservation News
To send Sustainable Facilities Management news to The McMorrow Sustainable Facilities Management Report,
please e-mail: sustainablefm@mcmorrowreport.com
Pierce County, Wash., takes IFMA Energy Challenge
Pierce County, Washington, is signing onto two energy-saving challenges that are designed to reduce costs and lessen the environmental impact of county-owned facilities.
The county is taking the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Energy Challenge, which calls for an energy efficiency improvement of at least 15 percent in county-owned buildings. This supports Pierce County’s commitment to sustainability by addressing economic and environmental issues that stem from the cost and use of energy in commercial buildings. Reducing energy consumption decreases operational costs and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases generated by commercial energy use. Here is a link to IFMA’s announcement about the Energy Challenge: www.ifma.org
In order to support the IFMA Energy Challenge, Pierce County is also taking the “Northwest Plug Load Pledge.” This means that the county has pledged to reduce energy use by becoming a leader in procuring efficient products to further reduce its impact on our natural resources and cut operational costs. This is a representation of Pierce County’s commitment to reducing energy use by purchasing ENERGY STAR products in its next procurement cycle, enabling power management features on computer equipment, and working with local utility incentive options prior to making information technology procurement decisions.
Reducing energy usage by 15 percent is one of six goals in Pierce County’s 2015 Sustainability Plan. More information about the goals and the strategies to reach them is available at www.piercecountywa.org
[ page top ]
DOE invests in geothermal energy
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of up to $70 million in new funding over three years for technology advancements in geothermal energy to accelerate development of this promising clean energy resource.
Innovations in exploration technologies to locate geothermal energy resources and improvements in resource characterization, drilling, and reservoir engineering techniques will enable clean energy from geothermal sources to be a key contributor to the nation's renewable energy supply.
[ page top ]
ASHRAE publishes energy design guide
ATLANTA—Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small to Medium Office Buildings: Achieving 50% Energy Savings Toward a Net-Zero-Energy Building is the first book in a series of Advanced Energy Design Guide (AEDG) publications that provides recommendations to achieve 50 percent energy savings when compared with the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.
The book was developed by a committee representing a diverse group of energy professionals drawn from American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
[ page top ]
Making use of car exhaust
CORVALLIS, Ore.—Technology is being developed at Oregon State University to capture and use the low-to-medium grade waste heat that’s now going out the exhaust pipe of millions of automobiles, diesel generators, or being wasted by factories and electrical utilities.
The potential cost savings, improved energy efficiency and broad application of such technology is enormous, experts say. The new systems now being perfected at OSU should be able to use much of that waste heat either in cooling or the production of electricity.
[ page top ]
DOE invests in lighting technologies
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will invest nearly $15 million to support eight new research and development projects that will accelerate the development and deployment of high-efficiency solid-state lighting technologies like LEDs and OLEDs.
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have the potential to be ten times more energy-efficient than conventional incandescent lighting and can last up to 25 times as long. The projects selected are located in four states across the country.
[ page top ]
DOE invests $27 million+ in solar energy
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of more than $27 million in new funding that will reduce the non-hardware costs of solar energy projects, a critical element in bringing down the overall costs of installed solar energy systems.
The funding will support a $12.5 million challenge to encourage cities and counties to compete to streamline and digitize permitting processes, as well as $15 million that will be made available to advance innovations in information technology systems, local zoning and building codes and regulations, and more.
[ page top ]
LEED Online will offer third-party apps
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI), a provider of energy efficiency solutions via predictive diagnostics and analytics, and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), developers of the LEED green building program, announced they will collaborate to develop and deliver third-party applications to be integrated into LEED Online. LEED Online is used by project teams to submit documentation toward the certification of LEED projects.
As part of the technology agreement, building owners will be able to use SCI’s SCIwatch™ technology
through the LEED Online platform to enable automated fault detection for ongoing commissioning and
predictive maintenance in commercial buildings SCIwatch interfaces remotely with building management systems to analyze inputs, provide continuous visibility into building performance and maintenance needs, and identify operational anomalies causing energy waste, risk to equipment life, and impacts on occupant health.
[ page top ] |
